w 



tm TnoPicAt A6ti6tt'tvniut, [ap&ii i, 1887. 



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aud sheep; only rye Htraw is employed an litter. 

 In the absence of irrigation — and plenty of facilities 

 exist to execute it — there is neither grass land nor 

 green crops. The small quantity of manure from 

 the stabling of the mules is applied to the vine. 



The culture of the vine is equally primitive ; there 

 ia one vine per each six square feet ; it receives 

 three tillages — between January and May, and one 

 manuring— stable stuff, every fifth year, on each side 

 of the vine alternately ; a trench '20 inches long, 8 

 wide, and 12 deep, receives 25 lb. of manure. The 

 preparation of the wine is simplicity itself. A re- 

 servoir in cement, cubing 60 feet, on a level with 

 the soil is filled with grapes and pressed down with 

 the hand. The mass remains thus during four days 

 to ferment, to allow the sugar to be converted into 

 alcohol. The juice is next run off, and the residue 

 carried to the press-vat, which also is the mill for 

 squeezing olives for oil. The vine is then collected 

 into deal vats ; German rye whiskey added to make 

 the liquid keep, and at once filled into barrels and 

 exported. The wine has now IH per cent alcoholic 

 strength, which the blenders water down to 8. The 

 residue of the winepress is either dried for fuel or 

 applied to the vines as manure. Were it distilled 

 as in France, it would yield ample alcohol to aave 

 ^ German importations. The backwardness of Spanish 

 * agriculture may be judged by this fact ; many pro- 

 prietors are ignorant of the extent of their hold- 

 ings, as the latter have never been surveyed. It is 

 but just to add the State has promised to do so — 

 since four centuries. 



The Agricultural Society of the Loire has taken 

 a step in the right direction ; it is arranging to 

 establish a farm, garden, and flower school to train 

 small farmers' daughters and servants, in all branches 

 of domestic economy, as applicable to their ex- 

 pectations in life. There is a j^reat demand for 

 educated helps in the rural districts, and superior 

 young women readily receive higher wages. The 

 school will effect another salutarjr end ; checking 

 the tendency of young women to immigrate to the 

 cities, in the hope to obtain higher paid employ- 

 ment, but which too often terminates in their ruin. 

 Good oaten straw, that is, free from rust and must, 

 is an important forage in the ration of milch cows. 

 Straw is accused of imparting a disagreeable flavour 

 to milk, and a tallowy character to butter. Such 

 may be produced by some other straws, or even by 

 that of oats if unsound. Experiments made in 

 Silesia confirm these views. In Schleswig-Holstein, 

 where the most scientific attention is given not only 

 to the preparation of butter, but to the feeding of 

 the cows, oaten straw enters into the rations of 

 milch stock in the proportion of 9 lb. per 9 cwt. 

 of live weight. Oaten straw in addition should be 

 chaffed and proportioned to the other rations. 



The Russians have been the first to employ com- 

 pressed rations or cake-feed for horses during cam- 

 paigning. Since eighteen months trials have been 

 made with the fruit of the Sterculicr acnminr, or 

 " Kola," an alimentary product, native to North 

 Africa. Professor Heckel, of Marseilles, has pre- 

 pared cake food for horses, in which the Kola fruit 

 enters largely. He attributes to the Sterculia ex- 

 citing properties akin to oats; in the latter, the 

 stimulating element resides in the delicate pellicle 

 which coats the seed. The food has been tried on 

 cavalry horses at Marseilles and elsewhere, and with 

 satisfactory results. The exciting action on the 

 nerve muscles is only more immediately active in 

 the case of oats. The Sterculia cake is accepted as 

 able to replace one-half the feed of oats ; in other 

 words one pound of ordinary oats is equal to two 

 pounds of Sterculia. 



In Belgium, Serradello culture continues to make 

 progress both as a fodder plant and for green manur- 

 ing. It is sown with winter rye in April, at the 

 rate of 33 lb. per acre. Cows prefer it to any other 

 kind of dry forage, and in nutritive composition it 

 treads closely on red clover. It is neither exacting 

 in point of soil ®r manure like clover. It produces 

 33 toua of green stuff per acre, and ploughed in ai> 

 a green pzauas^ ca>a be cso^tablyfoUoivfid by potaltMS. 



An enormous quantity of bamboos has recently 

 been shipped to France, and the demand con- 

 tinues. — Japan Mall. 



In Cask of Scalding. — In case a child or other 

 person should accidently drink scalding water, cod 

 liver oil and lime water, mixed in equal parts, should 

 be administered a teaspoonful at a time, to the scalded 

 throat, given slowly so the healing mixture trickles 

 down almost of itself. This not only heals the injured 

 part, but supports the strength of the child as food 

 would until other uourishments can be taken. — The 

 Farmer's Review, Dec. 1885 



A Mixture of Zinc White with zinc chloride is 

 found to furnish a paint of great value both for wood 

 and metals, as it becomes very hard, and can be washed 

 or bru.shed without iujury, which qualities are, of course, 

 of prime importance. An essential precaution, how- 

 ever, to be ob.served in regard to this paint is not to 

 apply it in rainy or frosty weather, as it then becomes 

 mealy and scales off. — American Culfivafor, Jan. 1886. 



Several interesting experiments were recently car- 

 ried on at the Cawnpore Farm, or "The Agricultural 

 Station," in the N. W. P. Notable among the experi- 

 ments was the use of wooU'-n refuse from the mills 

 as manure. This is probably the first occasion on 

 which this manure has ever been tried in India. The 

 experiment succeeded admirably with crops of all kinds, 

 and the mill-owners will, no doubt, be very glad to 

 get rid of the refuse, a.s it is of a highly inflammable 

 nature. Refuse from brick kilns, and ashes from 

 reeds, and grass cut green during the rains and buried, 

 were also tried as manures with success. The growth 

 of Nankin [cotton proved a failure, but the season was 

 unfavourable. — iJfadras Mail. 



The Darjeeling Tea Season. — The tea season at 

 Parjeeling promises to be an early one. Rain has 

 fallen in all parts of the district during the past few 

 days, and in sufficient quantity to satisfy every re- 

 quirement. The trees on the less elevated parts are 

 quite green with new leaf, and several gardens an- 

 ticipate manufacturing in a few days. The cold 

 weather throughout has been moist, and with the 

 hard frost experienced in December should, with the 

 present seasonable spring, bring the leaf out strong 

 healthy, with a quick growth. A Darjeeling corre- 

 spondent writes : — " I should say from the forwardnes, 

 of the leaf that plucking will have begun by the 15th 

 instant on almost every garden in the district. The 

 oldest resident cannot recollect such favourable weather 

 for tea, and undoubtedly the severe frost experienced 

 during this cold season have done much to free the 

 gardens from blight. The gardens are quite clear of 

 the pests which have done so much harm in recent 

 years." — Tiines of India, 11th March. 



Java Cinchona. — A well-known Java pro- 

 prietary planter is on a visit to Ceylon at present 

 in Mr. A. Kessler, who has a very large interest 

 in cinchona in Southern Java. This interest is 

 spread over some half-a-dozen estates and all but 

 one, consist solely of cinchona, of which as many 

 as 2,000 acres are cultivated. The exception is 

 a plantation which is divided between coffee and 

 cinchona. Mr, Kessler' s oldest trees are not above 

 five to six years, but he has already harvested a 

 good deal and got profitable returns. He and 

 other Java planters will, however, be shipping on 

 a much larger scale henceforward, and with a 

 quality of bark likely to be far richer than any 

 from Ceylon. Mr. Kessler thinks the returns recently 

 sent officially to Ceylon, of the area planted in Java 

 and the probable (juality of the bark, a fair ap- 

 proximation, and as a large holder he is naturally 

 anxious to see and learn about cinchona in Ceylon. 

 We bespeak for Mr. Kessler a courteous reception 

 during his trip through the Central Province com- 

 mencing today. He will first go to Kandy and 

 then up through the young districts, and, perhaps, 

 on to Uva. We trust he may have a pleasant 

 visit and gain a fair idua of the e:!itont nnder 

 cinchoiia bec«< 



